Tesla shorts feel the pain as stock price gains +41%

Elon Musk has been in the news a lot lately. The entrepreneur and founder of well known companies like Space X and Paypal, is also the creator of Tesla a luxury electric car. Musk wanted to prove that an electric car could compete on style and quality with other top tier automotive brands, and so far he's been proven right. Don't tell that to the bevy of short sellers who have lost out as the company's stock price keeps going up though. Shorts have approximately 41% of the shares available for Tesla, but as the company posted its first ever profit, and has seen its stock price continue to tick higher the shorts seem to be on the wrong side of the trade.

Conventional wisdom around Tesla is that the company will falter like other players in renewable energy and indeed other electric carmakers. Other electric vehicles (EVs) backed by big names like the Chevy Volt or the Nissan Leaf have only seen limited adoption. The company has also had a hard time getting state lawmakers on board with direct sales in states like Texas and North Carolina. The shorts say that the company is surviving on selling its lucrative EV tax credits back to automakers, not on sales.

When all this started, Tesla was around $30. On Friday, the stock closed at +76.76%. The company also posted its first ev......................